Bayeux

Bayeux (pronounced ) is a small town and commune in the Calvados département, in Normandy, northwestern France.

Administration

Bayeux is a sous-préfecture of Calvados. It is the chief-town of the arrondissement of Bayeux and of the canton of Bayeux.

Location

Bayeux is located just a few kilometres from the coast of the English Channel, and between the city of Caen to the east and the base of the Cotentin Peninsula to the west.

History

The area around Bayeux is called the Bessin which was a province of France until the French Revolution. The name of the town and of its region come from the Celtic tribe of Bajocasses who inhabited the area.

During the Second World War Bayeux was one of the first French towns to be liberated during the Battle of Normandy, and on June 16, 1946 General Charles de Gaulle made his first important speech on liberated French soil in Bayeux. The town hosts the largest British war cemetery in Normandy.

Sights

Bayeux is a major tourist attraction, best known to British and French visitors for the Bayeux tapestry, made to commemorate the Norman conquest of England in 1066. It is displayed in a museum in the town centre. The town also has a large Norman-Romanesque cathedral, consecrated in 1077, which was the original home of the tapestry.